Chinese Enameled Porcelain Bowl, ca. 1920
GUEST:
I received it from my grandmother, who got it from a friend of hers who is an antique collector, about 30 years ago.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's marvelous. It's a Chinese eggshell porcelain bowl. Eggshell means, of course, very thin.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So thin that you really have to be careful handling it, and it was originally one of a pair. So probably what happened to the other one is somebody broke it. This was produced in the 1920s in China.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
An imitation of a Ming or Qing type of bowl. Decorated with beautiful women, and that's sort of a typical pattern that would appeal to Western buyers.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Sort of you could look at the bowl and it screams Chinese porcelain. This little stand came with it, and it probably had a box that was beautifully rendered. But you've got the bowl. And it actually holds a Qianlong mark. Qianlong was a very important emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who lived between 1735 and 1795.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
However, as I said, this is a 20th-century bowl that was made really for the tourist market.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
In imitation of an older imperial porcelain. Now, made for expats in...who lived in China, or maybe for export to Europe and the United States, okay?
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
There were many of these made during that period of time. Now that China has opened up, the Chinese are very interested in buying these back.
GUEST:
Ah.
APPRAISER:
So, if you had brought this in to us 15 years ago, before this was the case, I would have told you, "No value."
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
However, now, at auction, you'd be looking at an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST:
(laughing) Awesome.
APPRAISER:
Now if you had the pair...
GUEST:
That would be...
APPRAISER:
It would be somewhere in the vicinity of about $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST:
Wow, wow. That's amazing.
APPRAISER:
So, good timing. Good timing.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.